Friday, March 30, 2012

Twins Ready to Make Some Moves

Twitter and the Blogosphere broke with the news today that the Twins had acquired Matt Rizzotti from the Phillies for "cash considerations". This move is in lieu of the minor leagues being one first baseman short now that Chris Parmelee is likely to break camp with the Twins due to his inspired play that's carried over since late last year.

The bigger news however, is what's to come.

At a press conference after the acquisition of Rizzotti, with reporters peppering Terry Ryan with questions about their latest acquisition, Ryan made a bold assertion: "When a team has holes, we will do anything in our power to help fill them. This isn't only true when it comes to minor league depth."

This statement has been leading to wild speculation that the Twins might look to acquire middle infield help, bench depth, one or two starting pitchers, and some veteran arms for the bullpen.

While this is a major breakthrough for the Twins front office -- that a player who can fill a needed position can be acquired for cash considerations -- some sources are criticizing the Twins for not coming to this realization earlier. Other players such as Edwin Jackson, Mark Buehrle, Todd Coffey and even Nick Punto could have been acquired for "cash considerations" (sometimes known as free agency) earlier in the offseason.

When questioned about their tendency to not seek out players for cash in recent history, Ryan countered: "We've been exploring all the normal channels for acquiring players. All options such as waivers, the Rule 5 Draft, etc. have been utilized. Now that we see the simplicity of a cash acquisition, perhaps that could change our stance going forward, but let's take one step at a time."

While the front office won't readily admit to being amendable to opening up the checkbook, word out of the other side of Fort Myers is that Twins scouts and personnel have been loitering around the Red Sox minor league fields with calculators and wads of one dollar bills, but that most of their players won't go near them without their agents present. The Twins front office has declined to comment on this.